To no surprise, ABC’s Better Off Ted has been cancelled after two seasons on the air. Though it was a hit with critics and a devout group of fans, it just never found a mass audience.
Better Off Ted follows Ted Crisp (Jay Harrington) and his fellow employees at Veridian Dynamics, a strange and heartless technology company. The rest of the cast includes Andrea Anders, Jonathan Slavin, Malcolm Barrett, and Portia de Rossi.
Last May, ABC decided to show some faith in the freshman sitcom and renewed Better Off Ted for a second season. At that time, the ratings weren’t great and they got even worse after the renewal announcement.
When the network began airing the remainder of season one during the summer months, they averaged a terrible 0.74 in the 18-49 demographic and 2.09 million viewers.
For season two, Ted debuted with a 1.5 rating in the demo and 3.82 million viewers. As bad as those numbers sound, they got even worse.
Paired with Scrubs, ABC decided to burn off the remaining episodes of Ted in January. Despite campaigning from some loyal fans, viewership hit a new low for the season — a 0.8 rating and 2.17 million viewers.
The writing’s been on the wall for a long time and realistically, based on the numbers, the TV show shouldn’t have been renewed for a second season. Many in the cast have taken other jobs and the series has now been cancelled by ABC.
What do you think? Many really loved this show but it never attracted a big audience. Why?
Image courtesy ABC.
OK, I guess I’ll indulge my urge for vitriol for just a moment. I don’t blame ABC since they at least provided two seasons of mirth. But I have no kind words for the vast majority who seem to have no capacity to recognize and enjoy shows that at least attempt to be clever and funny. Maybe truth in labeling would be helpful. Shows that use a laugh track could be required to display warnings that there are not actual human beings laughing at what is being shown. It could be like the warnings about violent or adult content that… Read more »
Better Off Ted was appointment TV for me. Funny, intelligent, no laugh track. Loved it. I’m sure it’ll be replaced with utter crap.
I am so depressed. Better Off Ted was so my new favorite TV show. If they’d publicized it more then i would’ve watched it forever ago. T-T
This show was great, ABC dropped the ball once again.
Shows like Better off Ted, Arrested Development, and the like have somewhat smart, witty humor. Unfortunately, most of the audiences today don’t get it…..Smart Humor is becoming a lost art.
This show never shouldn’t been cancelled!!!
My favorite show on ABC. I wish it would’ve caught on. I caught it on abc.com when I didn’t have cable. The show was very witty and the cast was hilarious.
M
Huge mistake! This was a great show…it was actually funny! There are so many other shows still going that don’t even compare to Better Off Ted. Every character in the show was hilarious! I really thought this show had great potential.
LOVE “Better Off Ted”! I didn’t find it on ABC, but on Netflix and thoroughly enjoyed watching both seasons. Too bad they didn’t market it better!
As usual, another good show just disappears because the networks just keep making too many each year. No viewer can possibly keep up with all the shows that come out so they just dwindle in ratings and get cancelled. Yay thanks. Jeez guys. Get a clue and at the very least, wrap up your shows with a finale and maybe people would be more inclined to tune in at all.
I just got into this show via Netflix…and everything everyone is saying is right. The network stations just don’t do a good job of marketing their new shows. They are too focused on the new season of the Bachelorette or some other BS reality crap that really only idiots watch. That’s what America has come to though, smart television is being pushed aside so we can exploit people in reality shows that require no creativity or thinking whatsoever. Way to go America! Lets make sure we all become stupid zombies who cant wait to see the next big survivor season.
I am getting more and more disappointed with ABC. It seems every time there is a new show on that I like… they cancel it. Pushing Daisies, Defying Gravity, and Better Off Ted. I’m worried about what they are going to do with No Ordinary Family.
Just finished both Seasons on Netflix streaming and it was hilarious. It like many other great shows never found an audience because we never heard of them. I never once heard about this show until Netflix recomended it to me. Its amazing a show such as South Park (not knocking South Park BTW) but its been on for 14 Seasons?? its too bad Comedy Central or FX didnt pick this up as they seem to market better and have a more loyal following than the big 3/4, which seems lost in reality TV anyway…
I’ve seen the entire show on Netflix and I am so sad to hear that this show is canceled. It was hilarious! ABC really dropped the ball when it came to marketing this show; I didn’t even know what day/time it was playing on. Sad to see a good show go.
I’m not supprised ABC canceled the show “Better off Ted.” When has any of the major networks ever continued with anything truly original. I rarely watch ABC anymore.